1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cosmetic composition including an Osmanthus asiaticus extract and a Clematis apiifolia extract as active ingredients.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The skin is an important organ that protects the body from physical, chemical or biological stimuli. Also, the skin plays an important role in maintaining homeostasis in living bodies, for example, regulating moisture and body temperature in the skin, and the like.
However, the skin undergoes changes due to various internal and external factors with age. When secretion of various hormones regulating metabolism in the skin is reduced, and the function of immunocytes and the activities of skin cells are degraded, various troubles such as inflammation and atopy occur on the skin. Also, free radicals and reactive oxygen species are increasingly generated due to the dysfunction of the skin, and melanin is deposited in cells, thereby causing damage to the skin due to spots, freckles, wrinkles, and the like.
To improve such skin, various cosmetic compositions for external use for the skin have been developed. Particularly, functional cosmetic compositions include an antioxidant for removing free radicals and reactive oxygen species, both of which cause oxidative stress. Generally, the “antioxidant” in the cosmetics has an ability to significantly reduce or prevent a condition in which the function and structure of the skin damaged by oxidation are degraded and destroyed, and serves to restore the skin damaged by exposure to ultraviolet rays.
The cosmetics industry has developed a number of products using natural substances in order to reduce irritation of the skin caused by various chemicals. Because natural materials have few side effects with respect to the skin, the natural materials have an increasing value for development as raw materials for cosmetics with a current increase in consumers' responses to cosmetics using such natural materials. Particularly, medicinal plants have attracted attention as raw materials for cosmetics because the medicinal plants have various functions including an anti-cancer effect.
However, cosmetic products containing a natural substance-derived extract obtained by conventional methods have drawbacks in that the cosmetic products do not sufficiently realize antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and whitening functionalities, and the skin-improving activity of the cosmetic products does not last consistently. Therefore, a need for development of natural substance-derived cosmetic products having excellent functionality and in vivo stability and a high skin-improving effect has emerged steadily.
Clematis apiifolia (C. apiifolia) is a medicinal plant that commonly grows on mountains and in fields, and has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, diuretic, and antidiarrheal effects. C. apiifolia has a wide range of effects on neuralgia, facial nerve palsy, cerebral apoplexy, migraines, myogenic palsy, rheumatoid arthritis, sore knees, backaches, gout, paralyzed hands and feet, bones stuck in the throat, and the like, and has been used for medicinal purposes against edema caused by nephritis due to an excellent diuretic action thereof. However, no skin-improving activity for development of cosmetics is known so far.
Therefore, under the circumstances in which the need for development of natural substance-derived cosmetic products having excellent functionality and in vivo stability and a high skin-improving effect has emerged steadily, the present inventors have endeavored to develop a cosmetic composition having excellent functionality using C. apiifolia. 